Best Heavy Music/Metal Act (vote for BY BLOOD ALONE):
http://thephoenix.com/bmp/Portland/Vote/BestHeavyMusicMetalAct/

Best Female Vocalist (vote for MELYNDA AMANN):
http://thephoenix.com/bmp/Portland/Vote/BestFemaleVocalist/

This year for some reason we have been moved from Best Category Defying Act to Best Heavy Music/Metal Act. The competition for Best Heavy Music/Metal is much stiffer, including Man-Witch, Twisted Roots, and Ocean, and we would very much value your support by voting for us. As many of you may recall, last year we were overlooked for nominations (after being nominated in 2006, 2007, and 2008), but ended up winning two awards as write-ins!

This was only possible due to the love and support of our friends and fans who made the effort to vote for us. As a token of our esteem and a thank you for voting for us this year, please feel free to download an exclusive song at the link below. it’s the little heard version of “Eternally” from our very first demo in 2004.

Eternally (2004 Demo)
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3814758

xoxoxo
By Blood Alone

PS: Be sure to vote for our friends in other categories:

Best Rap/Hip Hop Act: Brzowski
Best Male Vocalist: Boo Deadswallows (write in)
Best Live Act: Covered in Bees
Best New Act: Hessian
Best Album: The Art of Intention by Dilly Dilly
Best Punk Act: Lost Cause Desperados
Best Rock Act: Sun Gods in Exile
Best Category Defying Act: Confusatron

xoxoxo,
By Blood Alone

Part 1: Port City Music Hall
Part 2: Worcester MA
Part 3: Albany NY
Part 4: New Bedford MA
Part 5: Heading Back
Blog Talk Radio Interview
Worcester Magazine Review
PCMH Pics
Worcester Pics
Albany Pics
New Bedford Pics

PCMH is a HUGE venue with a top flight staging/sound/lights, and usually only have touring acts coming through. Ocean was the “headliner” but both bands got to soundcheck, a REAL soundcheck, not just making sure signal was going through the PA. There were monitors everywhere! We could actually hear clearly onstage! This rarely happens. Where I musically grew up in NY/NJ, live sound is really good, and I’m sorry to say this if anyone is offended, but for the most part sound people in New England are pretty shabby and the systems are never rung out. PCMH was a refreshing change from the norm. Ocean’s soundcheck was staggering: their dense wall of doom really filled the huge room and started reacting with the structure. We were aghast with anticipation: this was going to be a really heavy night.

I think because there were only two bands that night, we were required to play for 70 minutes, about 20-25 more than any previous gig we have played. At least we would now have an opportunity to really showcase a broad cross section of our material. Our set went down great, not feeling hampered by unclear sound onstage, we were able to really dig in and rock. The pics from that night on that huge stage made us look like a major band. That’s was a nice feeling. The downside of the long set, though, was that by the end we were pretty pooped. My guitar solo in the last song sounded more like the solo in “punk rock girl” by the Dead Milkmen than the version on our original cd. (You Milkmen fans know what i mean.)

Afterwards everyone was complimenting us and stating with a bit of shock how great the venue and PA made us sound. Apparently a lot of them had never been to the venue and couldn’t believe how nice and upscale it looked and sounded. Some pics from the show can be seen here.

Ocean eventually strapped in and cranked up. Those of you who have heard them know what they sound like: a horrifyingly beautiful droning noise at glacial tempos, a wall of noise as thick as the walls of Hitler’s bunker. It was so dreamy and beautiful, Jenny and I stood there in the audience totally enraptured. And boy did they seem different on that big stage, like they finally LOOKED like the major band we know they are. We had just never visually SEEN it that way before. They usually play the same loveably dark local rat holes all Portland bands play. They did their usual thing of play one song that lasted about 40 minutes and a second one that was about 25. Ocean has move into first place on my great Portland bands list.

All in all a GREAT night and totally put us in the mood for the upcoming tour. Turnout was great (166 – a surprising amount on a tuesday), we were well compensated, and best of all we got to play on a great stage with a great PA with Ocean.

Headlining was Ravage who are signed to Metal Blade. We played second. Up first was In Harms Way who played some trad metal with harmonized guitar parts. Nice guys with a pleasant sound, though those guitars got totally swallowed up by the bass guitar and cymbals. More midrange! I’d like to catch them a bit down the road and see how they develop.

Our set was short, (especially compared to the 70 minutes we did in Portland), and IMO we played great. Turnout wasn’t all that hot – not as good as our last show at Metal Thursdays. There was, however, a photographer from returntothepit.com there to shoot the show, including us. By the next day the pics were online and we looked great! Usually we are down on how we look, but in this case we looked so rock and roll. That alone was worth the trouble of playing the gig. Check them out here.

As we broke down Skullhammer played, a trio very much in the vein of 80’s thrash trios, kind of Whiplash/Raven/Exciter-esque. Rocking was their business and business was good. We were looking forward to seeing Ravage, but because of the long drive ahead we needed to skedaddle early, so we missed them. The promoter Samantha was very gracious and understanding. Spent the night with Matt and Stacy (my Nephew and Niece who came to the show). I got some nice hangout time with family.

Since we were up so early we got to albany before noon, Lots of time to shower, nap, hang out. I went to school in neighboring Schenectady, and the venue (the Fuze Box) used to be the QE2, which at the time was THE tour stop for indie bands in the area. Of course I was wheels-less back in the day so I never went there. It’s actually in an old White Tower hamburger joint, I guess a rival of White Castle in a bygone era. Bar up front, Dance room in the back with a very high and very small stage, plus an upstairs balcony/lounge. This night was part of Alien Nation, a monthly goth/industrial dance night. They are adding live bands to the show and we were the guinea pigs for this – no other bands that night. Dani the promoter and her life/business partner Andrew were extremely cool and accommodating. We set up and sound checked – the stage so small we had to walk onto it in a certain order. We know ONE person in the Albany area, but there were a bunch of late 30’s ish people who came in during soundcheck and sat down. Before we went on, Andrew told me that there were more people there early than they ever had, and he motioned to the 30-somethings, saying he had never seen them before. We can only assume they were there specifically to see us. Pics of us before and during our set, as well as the dance crowd, can be seen here.

Despite the cramped environment we played pretty well. To fit with the audience, we played a lot of our early, shorter, more new wave-ish material, some songs we haven’t played live in 3 years. It was a nice change of pace from the 10 minute epics. The audience sat quite quietly and watched, some leaving and coming back a few songs later, but for the most part we seemed to go over fine. Later we were told the promoters had their best night ever and gave us credit for at least part of it. Andrew is in a cool band called Doomsday Virus. We’re trying to get them a gig in Portland.

The schtick of the dance portion of the night was Depeche Mode versus KMFDM, the DJ switching between the two. As soon as we said “Thank you – good night” we heard “REACH OUT AND TOUCH FAITH!” booming down from the PA. After packing up Jack and Runtt drove the van back to the hotel while Cruella, Jenny and I stayed to fraternize with the locals and dance. We chatted with Dani and Andrew and some of their friends for quite a while, but Cruella’s choice of shoes eventually put the kibosh on any dancing.

One thing we noticed was there was much more PDA and drunken hookups than we usually see. And albany drunks are much more entertaining than Portland drunks. They were a real mess. My constant humming of “reach out and touch faith” had drunks coming up to me saying “bless me father!”, which i did in my best lapsed catholic fashion.

We eventually departed, caught a cab back to the hotel. We were hungry, so we tried to order pizza. No luck. Then I walked to the restaurant on the corner with the big flashing OPEN sign. They were actually closed and forgot to turn off the lights. Then I walked to Dunkin Donuts, only to find they were closed except for the drive thru, and they wouldn’t let me walk through the drive thru, as they were recently robbed. As though a car would hinder my robbing abilities. So I gave up and went back to the hotel and went to bed. Oi!

Previously I had dealt with the club owner of the New Wave Cafe in terms of bookings, and that can go either way: either they are very hands on or they are total hacks who let everything fuck up. We were also supposed to be one of 6 bands playing, so we did not have great expectations for the show.

Driving to the gig we found Lake Apponequet overflowing right over the roadway! as we plowed through the water I envisioned the rental van going under, but we got through ok. Whew! Despite being in a really shitty neighborhood, the club had a big stage and a good PA, with lots of monitors, both front wedges and side fills. Paul the owner turned out to be the hands on type of bar owner, and they were really organized, right down to how the gear for all bands flows in through one door and out through another. Two bands had dropped off the bill, so we ended up going on earlier than originally planned but we got to play longer. Though we were not paid, they bought us pizza, and thus we did not have to buy ourselves dinner, so in effect we were paid.

Sound onstage was very good, we played really well, and the crowd really liked us. Cruella really belted it out. Afterwards Paul said that he had purposefully put us on this meat market bill to check us out, and next time he’ll put us on a better bill. We’ll see. We chatted with a lot of other musicians, some playing that night, some not, all of whom offered to hook us up with more gigs. So in terms of making contacts alone it was a good night. After us was Cortez, a band from Boston that Tony D’Agostino used to be in. The were FANTASTIC! Very Sabbath with and interesting tempo/groove twist. The Singer looked a lot like Reuben Little with the Fuge’s face under the beard. Very odd to look at their dopplegangers rolled into one guy. Pics from the show can bee seen here.

After getting back to Cruella and Michael’s place we all change into our PJ’s and hung out. Cruella offered to make tea, and then rattled off like NINE different kinds of tea she had. That woman is serious about her tea!

So, we have another tour under our belts, played three good shows (four counting Portland), got some cool pics, met cool people and made some good contacts for next time. See you all then!

Four hundred miles
Without a word until you smile
Four hundred miles
On fields of fire

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171909&id=38637272185

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171899&id=38637272185

Blog Talk Radio interview

or on the Blog Talk Radio site:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/simon-barrett/2010/03/30/by-blood-alone